You probably didn't know Fan Bingbing's best cosplayer is a guy

Coser乌鸦 is the best "Fan Bingbing as Emperor Wu Zetian" imitator you'll probably ever see. That's him in the picture above this post. Are you as speechless as I was?

Chinese viewers were enraged when smash-hit The Empress of China was taken off the air for several days by government censors for forced edits (cleavage removal). Since the drama's New Year's Day return to Hunan TV this past January, everything's been pretty peachy. Lead actress and producer Fan Bingbing uses 260 fabulous costumes in her portrayal of Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor in history. With Fan Bingbing's phenomenal beauty and Wu Zetian's great legend, a cosplayer would have to be super brave to try to publicly step into those shoes.

Coser乌鸦 hasn't only taken the challenge, but given females a run for their money. Let's do a comparison.

Fan Bingbing as The Empress of China

Coser乌鸦

Fan Bingbing

Coser乌鸦

Fan Bingbing

Coser乌鸦

Fan Bingbing

Coser乌鸦

Fan Bingbing

Coser乌鸦

Doggone near perfect. Color me impressed.

A brief glance at Coser乌鸦's Weibo account tells you that this is definitely not his first rodeo. Looks like he's been doing some serious cosplay for quite a while. Three characters I noticed right away that he's done are "L" of Death Note, "Sasuke Uchiha" of Naruto, and "Lord Sesshomaru" of InuYasha. Technically, cosplay involves dressing up like fictional characters rather than real people, but I'm all for historical figures being fair game, too. Why not? He's a fan of Fan Bingbing and loves her portrayal of Wu Zetian so much that he did this as a tribute to the actress.

With its roughly $50 million USD budget, it is said that The Empress of China is one of the most elaborately costumed and expensive TV series there to date. I can only imagine how much Coser乌鸦's painstaking attention to detail from head to toe and elaborate staging cost him in time and money. But what a gorgeous end result, yes?

We'd love to know what you think about the comparison photos. Fan Bingbing should be proud, IMHO.

Stephe is a fantasy and paranormal writer who lives for Anime, Doctor Who, telenovelas, and Asian dramas. She co-founded Cloud USA, a Rain (비) fan site for English speakers, with her best friend Terri and enjoys sharing interesting tidbits on DramaFever in her spare time.